Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a gameplay of strategy

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a RTS video game that is a faithful recreation of the classic tabletop game by Games Workshop. Through the different game modes, you will experience the epic battles between the Chaos, Imperium, Eldar, and Ork factions in space.

Developed using Unreal Engine 4, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada puts you in charge of managing a fleet of spaceships before, during and after epic space battles. You control every aspect of every spaceship in your fleet including weaponry, defense, support sub-systems, crew, captain and the ship's abilities. Every one of these customizations makes a difference in the way each battle plays out.

If you have played RTS games before, this game should not feel too alien. The same concepts of units, abilities and map awareness apply. The only thing that is different is that abilities play a lot more of an important role here. How you utilize these abilities plays a critical role in determining who comes out victorious in the end. You can use your skills for attack, defense, control, and support. The game is fast paced and every second counts.

The gameplay is reminiscent of Star Wars: Empire at War, one of the better strategy games I have played. Battlefleet Gothic, however, is a significant improvement on the 2006 classic, ship facing buttons being the most noticeable, you don't have to manually turn around the ship if you want to fire from the front instead of the side.

There is one major difference when it comes to this game and classic RTS games, you have no base or any kind of unit development for that matter. You have a fixed number of points you can use in each game and spend those points bringing in a combination of ships that you own. The catch there is that even if you own three ships if all three don't fit into the point limit, you can only use the ships that do. You can acquire ships by purchasing them with Renown that you earn by playing games.

Renown is not the only reward you get for playing matches, your ships level up too. That being said, ships can be destroyed during matches and while they might not be completely lost as a result, you can either wait for repairs or give up a large amount of Renown to get an immediate replacement. Battles are not without consequence and those consequences tend to last for moderate periods. If you happen to have a ship lost in the warp, it will remain that way for multiple battles forcing you to rely on other options. The game is also not as much about micromanagement as it is about quick and adaptive gameplay. This is good as I feel like it was easier for me to get into multiplayer matches without having to invest the kind of time that would be needed for a complex RTS with a lot of micromanagement.

The setting and graphics are appropriate for the kind of game it is. Everything holds together pretty well giving you a pleasing sight to look at and a detailed universe to immerse yourself in. That being said, the graphics aren't the best in the genre but I don't think that took away from my gameplay experience at all.

The gameplay is difficult while being a lot of fun. The game requires you to learn its intricacies to be able to win consistently. I would recommend that casual RTS players stick to either easy or normal difficulty as the higher difficulties might be intimidating for those new to the genre. The game will keep you at the edge of your seat while playing and will require you to think on the fly. The game's mechanics create for infinite probabilities all of which you will not be able to predict. The environment also plays a key role in making the game a tad bit unpredictable with fog, asteroids and mines playing important roles.

I had a lot of fun playing this game and I imagine that you will too. If you're a casual RTS player or a seasoned veteran, the game has something for you. The game is priced reasonably for the Indian market at Rs 999. The game is honestly a steal at that price.